Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Farmers market customers looking for new options this year can head to Wallingford next month for fruit and vegetable smoothies and fresh fish at the 14th annual Wallingford Farmers Market.

Richard Cook, owner of The Local Catch in Charlestown, R.I., will be at the Railroad Station Green for 10 weeks, starting July 13, selling whole and filleted round and flat fish, squid, skate, smoked fish, scallops and shellfish, including crabmeat, this year.

Cook said he heard that the Wallingford market had lost its fish seller, so he decided to step in. “We’re always looking to expand our sales,” Cook said Monday. Catherine Hubbell, of Cat’s Sunshine Shack in Wallingford, will be selling her brand of fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies.

The Wallingford Farmers Market at the Railroad Station Green, between Quinnipiac and Hall avenues, will be open 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays from July 13 to Sept. 14. The market will also feature Lyman Hall High School’s Summer Edeen, who will sing and play the guitar, said Liz Landow, executive director of Wallingford Center Inc. See a complete list of vendors at www.wallingfordgardenersmarket.com.

The Meriden Farmers Market at the Colony Street parking lot, 44 Colony St., will be open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from July 13 through Oct. 13. Meriden’s other market, at the MidState Medical Center commuter lot on Lewis Avenue, is open every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. until Sept. 26.

Farmers market season is already under way in Southington. The Southington/ Plantsville Farmers Market at the Town Green, 1003 S. Main St., is open Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. until Oct. 25.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

WALLINGFORD - As a visitor enters the town’s former public library at 60 N. Main St., marble pillars, stained-glass windows, ornamental molding and aged wood floors welcome the eye.

“It just has a uniqueness about it that is special,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said. “To my eye, it’s a beautiful building.”

To the average passerby, its beauty, or existence, may not be apparent due to the drooping cut-leaf European beech tree that was planted in the property’s front yard very early in the 1900s. According to local businessman Joe Gouveia, who purchased the building for $800,000 earlier this year, a tree expert said it’s one of the largest cutleaf beeches ever reported in the state. The outside of the building, which is located between the Wells Fargo Bank and the Simpson Court plaza, also doesn’t stick out, with battered-gray stone and worn window frames.

Gouveia, however, said he hopes to make the location well-known and appreciated once again. Though it’s not grand on the outside, there’s plenty to offer on the inside, and Gouveia has considered turning part of the building into a wine bar. Plans remain uncertain, he said, and depend on zoning approval from the town. Parking, as with any location downtown, is an issue, he said, but the location has more parking spots than any of the businesses in the Simpson Court plaza next door. With more than 13,000 square feet of space available in the building, there is a ton of potential, Gouveia said. That’s why he said he’s still taking suggestions from the public.

As of now, he envisions a small wine bar on the first floor, possibly accompanied by an art gallery. Upstairs, there’s a large room with a stage. Gouveia said he can see the space being used as a community room, where local acts could perform. The building is larger than it seems from the outside. There are two massive rooms with high ceilings and staircases on the first floor. Some larger spaces were partitioned into smaller rooms when the library closed in 1982 and became home to an insurance company. Gouveia said he plans to knock down some of those walls to open up space.

“Once you open these walls, things take on a life of their own,” he said.

There is storage, along with another large, open room in the basement, formerly the children’s library. Gouveia said he’s also considering a gift shop for his vineyard at the location, since he currently has nothing downtown.

Any restaurant or bar business he might start wouldn’t be out to compete with nearby bars, he said. It’s a location that Gouveia said would be perfect before or after dinner. He said that any business at the site would not be open past 11 p.m.

“We’re not looking for the rowdy crowd,” he said.

Still, when it comes to the future of the building, Gouveia said “there’s nothing written in stone.”

A leaky roof needs to be repaired,and the heating and cooling system needs updating, he said. The building has been unused for the past four or five years, said Gouveia, who bought it from Frederick Ulbrich, the owner of Ulbrich Steel in Wallingford. Gouveia said Ulbrich paid $44,000 in heating costs in each of the last two years.

Gouveia said he has taken on many expensive endeavors, such as the vineyard he opened on Whirlwind Hill Road, but the rehabilitation of the old library will be by far the costliest project he has undertaken.

“I don’t put a budget on projects anymore,” he said. “Do it right, or don’t do it at all.”

Gouveia also wants to do the building justice in light of its sentimental value. “This is where I’ve spent many, many hours,” he said.

When Gouveia was younger, he cleaned and maintained the building for 18 years.

“There are a lot of memories here,” he said.

Gouveia attributes his current success to the lessons he learned at the old library. Years ago, he said, the trucking company he worked for closed down. Unemployed, Gouveia said he spent hours at the library reading books about business. His English was poor and he wasn’t business savvy at the time, he said. The librarians were always willing to help him with new words. With knowledge obtained at the library, Gouveia later opened a coffee shop on Center Street — his first business endeavor.

A man named Charlie McCabe used to clean the old library, Gouveia said. When McCabe was away for a few weeks, Gouveia cleaned it and performed maintenance for McCabe at no charge. A short time later, McCabe came into Gouveia’s coffee shop and told him he no longer wanted the job. Gouveia decided to take over because he was struggling to make ends meet.

Gouveia said his best memory of the old library was when his daughter Amanda would come with him to help clean. At the time, it was no longer a library, but the home of a small insurance company. As with any young child, he said, she would quickly become bored of cleaning. So Gouveia said he started bringing books, and she would read them downstairs in the former children’s library. What’s special about this memory, he said, is that Amanda initially went to school as a business major. Now, he said, she’s going back to school to become a librarian.

The building will someday be his legacy, Gouveia said, and that of his daughters; Alli and Amanda. The building is under their names, he said.

“I hope we will own the building for many, many years to come,” Gouveia said. Of the location, he said, “There’s something that kind of draws you in.”

“It would be a shame not to bring this back to its original beauty,” he added.

“It’s a great building,” said local history buff Jerry Farrell Jr., president of the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust. “There is a ton of character on both the outside and inside.”

According to a brief history published on the Wallingford Public Library’s website, the site of the building was owned by Samuel Simpson, a wealthy local industrialist. Simpson’s daughter, M. Ette Simpson, predeceased her father, “and in 1894 he bequeathed in her memory land at 60 N. Main St. along with $25,000 for a building and $20,000 for an endowment fund,” according to the library’s history. The same history says that Margaret Tibbits, great-granddaughter of Samuel Simpson, laid the cornerstone of the building on Sept. 21, 1899. Eighty-three years later, on Sept. 12, 1982, the same Margaret Tibbits, by then Mrs. Herschel Taber, laid the cornerstone for the present library at 200 N. Main St.

According to its website, library membership prior to 1958 was only open to women, but in 1958, when the name was legally changed to the Wallingford Public Library Association, membership was opened to men, as well.

An addition was built onto the entrance of the library in 1931, and the entire building was renovated in 1962.

Gouveia said he has an early picture of the library, from about 1914, that shows the cutleaf beech tree as just a sapling. There are rumors in town that the tree might come down, Gouveia said. Those rumors are not true.

“Not at least while I own the place,” he said.

The tree is an integral part of the building’s character, Gouveia said. It’s also rare, because it has two different varieties of beech leaves. A close inspection reveals the difference in the leaves; one is rounded and wider, while the other is skinnier and jagged.

“The tree will never come down,” Gouveia said.

Gouveia admitted that purchasing the building was not the best business decision. It would have been easier to renovate the dilapidated former American Legion building on North Main Street because he could have just gutted it and started anew. Gouveia did attempt to purchase the American Legion building for similar purposes, but the deal fell through. The old library presents a different challenge, he said, because almost everything inside is worth keeping intact.

But it’s not a desire for financial success the drives this new endeavor, Gouveia said.

“I’m doing it for the town,” he said. “It’s going to be something the town can be proud of.”

Photos by Dave Zajac – courtesy of the Record-Journal

Top: Joe Gouveia stands on the first floor of the former public library on North Main Street in Wallingford.

Middle: Gouveia, the building’s owner, walks past the cut-leaf European beech tree on the property that dates to the beginning of the 20th century.

Below: This empty space in the building’s basement once was the site of the children’s library.

Alert

As part of the exercise, the Town of Wallingford will activate its Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC will be staffed by Wallingford government leaders and local emergency managers.

WALLINGFORD

CONNECTICUT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Town of Wallingford’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

Lt. Marc Mikulski

Wallingford Police Department

135 North Main Street

Wallingford, CT 06492

Office: (203)-294-2850

Communications: (203) 294-2800

Emergency: 9-1-1

June 20, 2013 @ 9:00 a.m.

Town of Wallingford to Participate in a Two-day Statewide Emergency Preparedness Drill

(Wallingford, CT) On June 20th and 21st, the town of Wallingford will be participating in a two-day statewide emergency preparedness drill coordinated by the state’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS). The drill is designed to simulate a major ice storm in the western part of the state and the subsequent trickle down affects that it may have on state and individual community’s resources.

The main goal of this exercise is to improve communication between the state’s utility companies and state and local governments during emergencies and to test the state’s mutual aid system.

As part of the exercise, the Town of Wallingford will activate its Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC will be staffed by Wallingford government leaders and local emergency managers. The exercise will give officials the opportunity to participate in the statewide drill as well as review local emergency operations plans, resources, and unified responses to local emergencies.

The exercise is part of Governor Malloy’s ongoing Emergency Preparedness and Planning Initiative (EPPI), which began in 2011.

Overall goals of the exercise include:

Improving Communications for Road Clearing & Utility Restoration: Utility company crews will be working with certain towns to exercise the “Make Safe” protocol that will enhance road clearance processes and communication.

Activating Local Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) and Convening Unified Command: All participating municipalities and Tribal Nations will have key local officials and leaders meet at their local EOC to simulate preparedness, response, and recovery planning.

Regional Emergency Support Plans: Each DEMHS Region will be reviewing their Regional Emergency Support Plans and implementing them as needed during the exercise, with particular focus being given to: Transportation, Logistics, Hospital Surge Capacity, and Communications.

Materials related to the exercise and the Governor’s Emergency Planning and Preparedness Initiative can be found at www.ct.gov/demhs.

WALLINGFORD – As of Thursday, captains will no longer exist at the Fire Department.

A job description change that takes effect Thursday morning will give each of the four incumbent captains at the Fire Department the title of battalion chief, Fire Chief Peter Struble said Tuesday.

Captains are also known as shift commanders in Wallingford. The change gives them the recognition they deserve, he said.

“The title really needs to match what they’re doing in the field,” Struble said, adding that he has sought the title change for a long time. The new position was approved by the Town Council last week.

“It’s a big part of it for shift commanders,” Struble said of the morale boost new titles will provide. “It’s recognition for what they’re doing.”

Struble said that his duties, along with those of Deputy Chief Stephen Alsup and Richard Heidgerd, are purely administrative. Captains, however, handle the “oversight of all the emergency operations of the Fire Department,” Struble said. A job title change was sought to reflect the immense responsibility of captains, he said.

Accompanying the title change are new qualifications for the position, Struble said. All four current captains already meet the new standards, which include a higher level of certification — the equivalent of an associate’s degree in fire science, he said. The new job title does not include increased compensation.

The department encourages its firefighters to educate themselves, Struble said. Tuition assistance is offered for those who choose to attend the Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks.

“A lot of this is of their own initiative,” Struble said of firefighters furthering their education. As part of the alteration to the title and job description, the existing fire lieutenant position was also revised, Struble said. The position will now require further education that previously was only preferred. All current lieutenants meet the new standards, Struble said. A firefighter must become a fire lieutenant before they can attain the position of battalion chief.

Revisions in the department mirror the structure of departments of similar size in the state. Struble said fire departments in Norwich, Danbury, Hamden, East Haven, East Hartford, Manchester, West Hartford, Branford and Milford also have battalion chiefs. Meriden has a similar structure, but instead of battalion chief, the position is titled assistant chief, Struble said.

The title change will potentially offer battalion chiefs further training opportunities at the competitive National Fire Academy in Maryland, Struble said. When scouring through applications for new trainees, the academy is more likely to accept an officer with the title of battalion chief, Struble said. Town Councilor John Sullivan called the change “wonderful,” adding that at no cost it provides training benefits to the department.

“I just can’t tell you how much I support that Wallingford Fire Department,” he said. In agreement was Town Council Vice Chairman Vincent Cervoni, who said, “by the time Chief Struble has brought something before the council, it’s well researched and there’s good reason for it.”

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Today is Father’s Day. Over past few weeks leading up to this annual event I have been working my fulltime job at Bloomberg LP in New York City and wrapping up the fundraising efforts for the 4th of July fireworks celebration and working on the grand finale collections. I have also been fulfilling my duties as one of your Town Councilors here in Wallingford as well as campaigning for Mayor for this upcoming election.

But I have this other very important job – I am a Dad to Andrew, Angela, Adam and Alex.

By the time most of the followers of my blog read this post, my four children will be landing in Warsaw for their annual pilgrimage to Poland. From there they’ll be heading by car for the six-hour ride to the village of Zawadka in the administrative district of Gmina Łososina Dolna where my wife grew up.

The last few weeks in between all my other duties I have been spent doing all those “last things” with them. Going for that “last” walk downtown just to get out and get some fresh air; getting that “last” pizza, making that “last” trip to the ice cream stand or taking the time to spend that “last” afternoon to enjoy Kendrick Park.

Father’s Day for me each year has generally meant saying goodbye to them for ten-to twelve weeks.

I consider the sacrifice of not seeing my kids for that period of time each year a worthwhile one, as difficult as it can be to be away from them that long.

The first few days of them being away is a nice respite; I have the house all to myself and there is no yelling and screaming, no “he touched me,” no “give me that, it’s mine,” no “Jason, before you go downstairs to the man-cave, could you . . .?”

After that, however, it does get a little old and little too quiet pretty quickly.

I know my kids enjoy the time there — seeing my wife’s parents and the aunts and uncles, running all over the farm, riding the tractor, and so on — but I also hear of the little things that they mention that they miss when I talk to them. They mention their bicycles, the other kids in the neighborhood, the DVR (because the concept that a TV show actually starts and ends at a given time and cannot be paused live escapes them).

I am hoping as they grow older that other things sink in; that for all the flaws of this country it is still one of the best places on Earth to grow up and grow old in — a country full of wonder and opportunity; one only needs to make a realistic effort to reach a certain amount of success.

There is never a real need that goes unfulfilled here . . . that when there is the will, there is always a way to get something done because we have so much in abundance here — the means to do it, and the freedom to make our own way.

There is plenty of time for them to learn that once they grow older and understand more. In the meantime, while they are little and away, I will miss the garbage runs with all four kids in tow because right now they all think it’s “cool” to go for a ride and do that with Dad.

I will miss watching Alex take his Superman shirt off and put his Captain America costume on.

I will miss Adam sneaking downstairs at night and climbing into my bed to sleep not because he was “frightened” of anything but because he was “cold”.

I will miss listening to Angela practice her lessons on the piano and when I ask her to “let go” when I try to put her down her response of “never”.

I will miss Andrew asking me if we can watch another episode of “Dinosaurs” or “How the Earth was born.”

I will miss that feeling that I get seeing myself through their eyes, as I believe I have a lot of room for improvement because they see me as the World’s Greatest Dad.

I will miss all these things and more, but I will take some comfort in the fact that I know they are safe and happy; that they are enjoying the summer away and that I will see them again in the fall. But I won’t feel too badly, really, on Father’s Day with them being gone because I have been smart enough to realize that there is an opportunity to enjoy a little something with them each day — making every day Father’s Day.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

If you have a teenager please have a conversation with them about this. DrugFacts: Spice (Synthetic Marijuana). There is nothing harmless about this drug. It is concocted by mixing chemicals together. Because of its name many teens do not think it is dangerous, however the chemicals have the potential to do immediate and long term harm including hallucinations. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/spice-synthetic-marijuana

With summer on the way, local residents will have to wait a little longer to take a swim in public pools.Wallingford Community Pool will open for the weekend of June 15 and 16, reopen for the season on June 22 and close on Aug. 18. Hours for public swimming are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Pool passes for adults are $15, $5 for children under 12 and seniors 63 and older. Passes can be bought at the Parks and Recreation Department, 6 Fairfield Blvd., Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Proof of residency — a driver’s license, tax bill, report card or school ID — is required.

Southington’s pools at Memorial Park and Recreation Park will open on June 22, said David Lapreay, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. Hours will be from noon to 8 p.m. Registration for two sessions of swimming lessons at both pools should start in the next couple of weeks, Lapreay said.

The pool at Hubbard Park in Meriden will open June 22. Open swim hours are from noon to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and noon to 6:45 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Adult swim hours are from 6:45-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Registration for the first session of swimming lessons will be held July 6 at 10 a.m. at the pool. Those classes will be held July 8-19. Signup for lessons from July 22 through Aug. 2 will be held on July 20. Lessons cost $10 per student; children will need to bring a bathing suit and towel.Cheshire’s Community Pool, 520 S. Main St., opened May 1 as an outdoor facility.

Monday, June 3, 2013

-- The family was on the way to my seven year old daughter’s very first piano recital.-- “Tartar Sauce” is used as an interjection on the infamous SpongeBob Squarepants.-- My kids continually mess sayings up.

So we are driving to Angela’s piano recital in the car when Alex (who turns four this September) begins the conversation and Adam (the five year old) does most of the rest of the follow up.

ALEX: Daddy, can I have a drinkDAD: Sorry buddy, there’s no drink in the car.ALEX: Oh, Tartar Paste!

ALEX: (In a nice soft voice that sounded as if he was talking to himself). See Adam, I told you it was “Tartar Paste”. I know what I am talking about; I will be four you know and I am going to Pre K soon.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

By Jesse BuchananRecord-Journal staff jbuchanan@record-journal.com(203) 317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJWALLINGFORD - Members of the Merriman family from around the country and the world, most of whom had never met, got together Saturday for their first reunion in100 years.

Descendants of Nathanial Merriman, an Englishman who helped found Wallingford in 1670, gathered on the 400th birthday of their ancestor to visit the family plot in Center Street Cemetery and connect with distant relatives.

About 160 people attended, most from the United States, and the farthest from Belgium. Reunion organizer Peter Merriman said 122 of the attendees were descendants of Nathaniel Merriman.

The Merrimans convened Saturday morning at the Wells Fargo bank on North Main Street, the site of the former St. George Inn, where the 1913 reunion was held. Some wore name tags with letters indicating a branch of the family. Peter Merriman had a “J” on his badge, indicating that he was a descendant of John Merriman, Nathaniel Merriman’s son.

Most of those who traveled to Wallingford on Saturday had some interest in genealogy and had dug into their family histories, according to Peter Merriman.

“They’re into it,” he said. “They know who Nathaniel is.”

More than 2,200 postcards were sent to Merrimans around the world in the months leading up to the reunion. George Macy Merriman, who lives in Belgium, had been anticipating a family gathering on the 100th anniversary of the 1913 reunion.

“I’ve been watching this date come closer and closer over the past 20 years,” he said. “It’s an amazing look at the continuity of a family.” Macy Merriman flew from Europe with his son and son-in- law. He said many Europeans assume that Americans know little about their family histories, so his friends were surprised to learn how much he knew about his own ancestors going back hundreds of years.

Family history research was a common thread among those who attended the reunion, according to Peter Merriman, and it helped them connect even when they didn’t know each other.

“Almost everybody who’s here has done some genealogical research,” he said. “I met some Merrimans who I never knew before, but it seemed like we’d known each other for a long time but just hadn’t seen each other in a bunch of years.”

Raymond Merriman and his wife, Patsy, came from Washington state, making a two week vacation out of the reunion. He’s a descendant of Samuel Merriman and said there are few Merriman’s on the West Coast from that branch of the family.

Raymond Merriman has traced his ancestors to Nathaniel Merriman’s father, George Merriman. Knowing the family history made the reunion all the more meaningful to him.

“Without that, this wouldn’t mean anything to me,” he said.

After meeting and chatting on the Wells Fargo lawn, the group walked to the Center Street Cemetery for a ceremony at the Merriman family plot. Lunch was held at Zandri’s Stillwood Inn, where a genealogical chart 5 feet high and 24 feet wide was posted on the wall.

Photos by Justin Weekes; courtesy of the Record-Journal

Above: Helen Merriman of South Dakota helps husband Roger with his name tag during the meet and greet portion of the Merriman family reunion Saturday in front of the Wells Fargo bank in Wallingford. Below: Marcous J. Merriman, 24, of Rochester, N.Y., and Don Merriman, 90, of Lemon, S.D., get to know each other.

Above: Members of the Merriman family enter Center Street Cemetery in Wallingford Saturday for the unveiling of a new headstone for Nathaniel Merriman, one of Wallingford’s founders.Below: The Merriman family gathers in the cemetery for the national anthem with the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guard, of New Haven.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

This is a message I received from the folks spearheading the Wallingford effort to establish their organization as a non-profit; if it is a cause near and dear to you and you have the ability to donate a little please consider doing so. A few dollars from everyone gets them over the top on this part of their efforts.

Dog Park Donations

May 31, 2013

Hi Folks!

While we are very pleased by the response to our first "Fund Raising" effort we are still just short of our goal of $500! We need these funds to complete our Non Profit status!

Here are the details for making a donation -

Checks can be made out to:

Wallingford Dog Lovers Association

You can send it to:

WDLA

C/O Bachand & Bachand

189 State Street, Suite 100

Bridgeport , CT 06604

If you would prefer to make a Cash donation you may bring it to -

Amy Humphries at the Wallingford Public Library

You are also welcome to drop off checks with Amy.

Please remember to give us your name and address so we can send you a Tax Deduction receipt.

About Me

I have been working in the information technology field in one form or the other since 1996. I am currently employed full time at Tallan, Inc. as a Senior Cloud Infrastructure Consultant. I live in Wallingford Connecticut, which is my hometown where I have lived my whole life.

I am married to my wife Renata and a father to four children, three boys - 12 years, 8 years and 7 years old, and one girl aged 10 (by the end of 2016).

I have a passion for technology and I clearly do not sleep much.

I’m always looking for input so drop me a note and let me know what you’d like to see.